![[:en]No water: life in California’s drought valley[:]](/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/CLIMATE-CHANGE--240x240.jpg)
[:en]No water: life in California’s drought valley[:]
[:en][of Julia Lurie on theguardian.com] Glance at a lawn in East Porterville, California, and you’ll instantly know something about the people who live in the house adjacent to it. If a lawn is green, the home has running water. If it’s brown, or if the yard contains plastic tanks or crates of bottled water, then the well has gone dry. Residents of these homes rely on deliveries of bottled water, or perhaps a hose connected to...
![[:en]Global warming contributed to Syria’s 2011 uprising, scientists claim[:]](/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/2000-240x240.jpg)
[:en]Global warming contributed to Syria’s 2011 uprising, scientists claim[:]
[:en][by Ian Sample on theguardian.com] US study claims regime’s unsustainable agricultural policies meant drought led to collapse of farming in north-eastern region and triggered mass migration to cities and added to feelings of discontent. The prolonged and devastating drought that sparked the mass migration of rural workers into Syrian cities before the 2011 uprising was probably made worse by greenhouse gas emissions, US...
[:en]Failure to act on climate change means an even bigger refugee crisis[:]
[:en][by Craig Bennett on theguardian.com] Global warming does not cause the conflicts that have caused mass movement of people, but it would be wrong to say it does not contribute. As I looked in on my own children sleeping safely last Thursday night before I went to bed, I did so with added poignancy as I reflected that this was something Abdullah Kurdi was not able to do. I’m sure millions of parents of young children right...
![[:en]Colombia’s first steps of resistance against Monsanto’s chemical war[:]](/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/monsanto-hero1-240x240.jpg)
[:en]Colombia’s first steps of resistance against Monsanto’s chemical war[:]
[:en][by W.T. Whitney Jr on theecologist.org] The mass spraying of glyphosate in Colombia, both on farmland and in the ‘war on drugs’, is a direct an attack on small scale farmers, rural communities and FARC rebels, writes W.T. Whitney Jr. But since the chemical was declared a ‘probable carcinogen’ Colombia has restricted aerial applications. The first step in a wider backlash against the toxic herbicide?...
![[:en]Over-grazing and desertification in the Syrian steppe, the root causes of war[:]](/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/desertificazio-240x159.jpg)
[:en]Over-grazing and desertification in the Syrian steppe, the root causes of war[:]
[:en][by Gianluca Serra on theecologist.org] Civil war in Syria is the result of the desertification of the ecologically fragile Syrian steppe, writes Gianluca Serra – a process that began in 1958 when the former Bedouin commons were opened up to unrestricted grazing. That led to a wider ecological, hydrological and agricultural collapse, and then to a ‘rural intifada’ of farmers and nomads no longer able to support...
![[:en]Sblocca Italia: Extractivism made in Italy[:]](/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/blocca-sbloccaitalia1-240x240.jpg)
[:en]Sblocca Italia: Extractivism made in Italy[:]
[:en][by Salvatore De Rosa on entitleblog.org] The Unlock Italy Law, recently passed in the Italian parliament, is a festival of deregulation and legalised plunder. From fossil fuel extraction to construction permits, the country is put on sale to restart growth. But from the targeted territories, social movements are waging resistance. And they bring another idea of prosperity. Italy’s current Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, has been...
